The Dutch soprano, Iris de Koomen, completed her singing tudies at the Conservatory of Utrecht. She was student of Marianne Blok. Subsequently, she studied Early Music at the Conservatory in Den Haag under the direction of Marius van Altena and Rita Dams. In the period after she took part in the opera class of the Nieuwe Opera Academie (New Opera Academy), a collaboration between the Koninklijk Conservatorium (Royal Conservatory) in The Hague and the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. They include lessons with Diane Forlano and Cristina Deutekom. In addition, she attended master-classes with Barbara Pearson, Diane Forlano, Charlotte Margiono, Kevin Smith, Charles Hamilton and Craig Ruenburg. She was selected as a finalist for the Erna Spoorenberg Vocalist presentation and was one of the Dutch participants at the International Vocalist Competition in 's Hertogenbosch.
Iris de Koomen appears regularly as a soloist at home and abroad in oratorios, operas, and other concerts. In the opera field she performed, inter alia, the coloratura aria of the Queen of the Night in Magic Flute by Mozart and the Fire, the Nightingale and the Princess in Ravel's L’enfant et les sortileges. Furthermore, she sang, among other roles, Belinda in Dido and Aeneas by Purcell and Cupid and Philadell in King Arthur by Purcell. In France, she sang the soprano arias in a production of the opera Alceste by George Frideric Handel. She can also be heard at various stages in opera and concerts, mainly in lyrical coloratura arias. Recently she played, among others, the role of Farida in the successful production of Romeo and Farida at Xynix opera. Then Cordelia in King loves, also at Xynix opera. Last summer she sang Belinda in the opera Dido and Aeneas by Purcell, an outdoor production at Fort Ouwens Rijn, Utrecht. |